(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The next time you casually hum a tune, remember to record it on your smartphone.
One man's passion to combine his hobby and profession with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) has helped many music lovers to discover their untapped creative chords via Humtap - a media technology startup which produces and licenses original music using AI. The startup is expanding its reach in the UAE and the region.
"My initial concept was to unleash everyone's creative side while knocking down all the physical and mental barriers that hold people back from exporting their creative musical ideas," said Tamer Rashad, founder and CEO of Humtap.
"Most of us often hum a melody and tap a beat while enjoying a walk, in the shower, sitting or driving a car. Most of us have experienced it, some more than others. We are all creative in many ways and music is one of the most natural things human beings have enjoyed since the Stone Age," Rashad added.
Currently, almost $300 billion is spent annually on music content across the media and entertainment industry while 16 trillion social media video views last year lacked music as a soundtrack. Music is the number one content on YouTube. Facebook alone plans to spend hundreds of millions to license music for its users.
So, Humtap identified that although music speaks to billions of people, it is mostly out of reach for social media user generated content and businesses advertising online. Creating original music is costly, time-consuming and requires skills most of us lack. At the same time, acquiring others' music is even more expensive and can potentially be a legal minefield.
Humtap empowers everyone to express themselves by creating original music on the fly. Consumers, advertisers, artists and creators only need to sing a melody or add a beat into their mobile and your music is ready - original, instant, copyright-free and it can be in any style, whether a genre or inspired by your favourite artist.
Very few of us turn our creative ideas into music so others can hear and enjoy it. Why? Because creating music at the same quality as we have been accustomed to, for instance the music we listen to on records and the radio, is a highly engineered effort. It includes learning to play many instruments, often by a group of people, a collaboration between them, understanding the rules and theory behind music composition, informed Rashad.
The ex-corporate world honcho said his vision, since he was a child playing with early digital synthesisers in the 1980s, has been how to automate music composition and production. Thanks to advancements in computer science, mobile technology and lately in machine learning and AI, we can realise this dream.
"I started Humtap after 20-plus years in the corporate world, both Fortune 500 companies and investment banking on Wall Street. I have put together a distributed team both in Silicon Valley and Europe. For the UAE and the region, we recognise that we have a vast market of over 400 million music lovers. Our goals are to address this market by enabling users to make music in as many styles of their beloved artists in the region," observed Rashad.
How does Humtap work?
Use your phone's microphone to record your tune, an AI software analyses your inputs to build an instrumental track. Choose from an array of tempos, styles and genres to customise your song and Humtap's uploading feature makes sharing easy.
Antoine Massad, a Humtap investor and chairman of Beco Capital, said: "Humtap is targeting a sizeable market with no significant player - there is a high potential for disruption. I invested in Humtap at an early and risky stage for such nascent technology because I see the market opportunity and the qualities Rashad brings to his startup. He doesn't focus on why he and his team can't do something, which is what most people do. He focuses on being the exception. That requires a high level of motivation and perseverance which are critical for an entrepreneur.
"Humtap is turning a perceived risk into an asset. The likelihood that music created with the aid of AI will make a musician absolute is something Rashad and the team are turning into an asset by building their tech not just for consumers but musicians alike."
Revenue model
The company's revenue model is incremental, with the phased introduction of different lines and these include: Freemium (upgrades to more services or avoidance of advertising); advertising on the platform; artist commissions; social media platform licensing and content and media creator service fees.
On his strategies for the UAE, Rashad said: "Music is universal. No one or a group of cultures, countries or markets have a monopoly on good music. The beauty of creating music using AI is that the AI part can be trained with any style or music genre, whether it is rock, hip-hop or any sub-genre of Arabic music, for example. Now, our patented technology can be trained even at the level of one specific artist to learn their unique musical style. For example, consider the Lebanese singer Fairuz.
"We can train our AI models on her songs. The AI engine will then be able to produce music that sounds like Fairuz but each song is unique and original. The uniqueness of each new song comes from a user's voice in the form of a simple melody or a beat."
Humtap has been started by three founders with expertise in music, technology and business. They plan to raise $15 million through a series A round. The company is domiciled in Silicon Valley with a presence in Berlin and London.
Andy Silvey, another Humtap investor, said: "As both an entrepreneur and a music lover, I got attracted to be a part of Humtap as an early investor because of the combination of the potential to address the market needs and the impressive quality and background of the founder and his team."
Silvey said social media faces a problem today. It needs background music but licensed music is too expensive and the majority of people cannot produce quality music efficiently. That is where Humtap finds one of its niches - music chart quality music in seconds and available to everybody.
Humtap is disrupting the music industry. If the big labels do not pay attention, I can see Humtap doing to them what Google did to the Yellow Pages."
Sebastian Prantauer, Humtap music production lead and lecturer at Abbey Road Studio (the Beetles Studio), London, said: "When we usually think of AI music, we instantly start thinking of the scientific aspects, the technology and the algorithms behind it, but doing that utterly misses the point. With Humtap, our users are the ones who create the music using their human instincts and emotions. We only provide the tools."
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Sandhya D'Mello Journalist. Period. My interests are Economics, Finance and Information Technology. Prior to joining Khaleej Times, I have worked with some leading publications in India, including the Economic Times.
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